World Economic Forum Regional Meetings: Great Opportunities For Youth To Shape the Future

Engagement with Global Shapers during the World
Economic Forum Eurasia Meeting in Turkey.

(Photo Credit: )

The Global Shapers Community attended “World Economic Forum Special Meeting in Turkey: Unlocking Resources
for Economic Growth” in September 2014. Global Shapers Community, an
initiative of World Economic Forum, composed of network of Hubs which are led
by young people who are exceptional in their potential, their achievement and
their drive to make a contribution to their communities.

As 50% of the world's population is under 27, Shapers are
working hard to find solutions for the global problems of youth such as
unemployment, low empowerment, access to education and barriers for
entrepreneurship.

Just before the World Economic Forum Meeting in Istanbul, The
Coca-Cola Company, as one of our Global Community Partners, hosted around 35
global shapers from 17 different countries in their offices to discuss
opportunities for unlocking resources for region’s youth. I was lucky enough to
moderate a panel session with Ahmet İhsan Erdem, Vice President, Republic of
Turkey Prime Ministry Investment Support and Promotion Agency (“ISPAT”); Sinan
Cem Şahin, Public Affairs and Communications Director, Coca-Cola Turkey, Caucasus
& Central Asia; Aydan Olcer, Eurasia and Africa Group Corporate Affairs
Manager and Panagiotis Madamopoulos-Moraris, Group Strategy Director, Agora
Trading, and Global Shaper from Athens Hub. Regarding the panel topics, youth
empowerment and youth unemployment were 2 key takeaways for me.

Firstly, my peers and I had the opportunity to discuss
Turkey’s economy and investment opportunities with high level government
officials. It was a unique experience for Global Shapers to exchange their
views on the economy and investment climate with business leaders and
government officials. That was a substantial opportunity for Shapers in the
panel, who were either young professionals, entrepreneurs or academics. For
sure, irrespective of their background, each and every Shaper in the room had a
shared goal: improving the state of the world via finding solutions to the
global challenges of young people at all levels.

A project presentation during the second half of the panel
triggered shapers to find out new tools to reach our common goal. Panagiotis,
our friend from Global Shapers Athens Hub, made a fantastic presentation on the
project called “Re-Generation” which
seeks to bridge the gap between talented and ambitious young people and companies
which have been suffering from talent deficit. “Re-Generation” is an inspiring project to deal with youth
unemployment. As Panagiotis says, “Athens
Hub rallied 23 partners, 120 volunteers, and over 670,000€ in pro bono services
to design a solid plan that can step-change the internship culture in Greece
and create sustainable growth”. It is great to see that they already secured
58 internship placements for 2014-15 with different companies and envision up
to 2,000 placements until 2019. “Re-Generation”
started nationally in Greece however it was exciting to see that at least
more than 4-5 Hubs are willing to adopt this project in their own region.

To close, I would like to say that this event -including a
panel discussion and networking meeting- hosted by Coca-Cola was a great
experience for Shapers to engage with leaders from business and government
sectors and helped us a lot to take a step in the fight against youth
unemployment. Such opportunities are very much appreciated by our young and
diverse community.

Can Naiboğlu is the Istanbul Hub Curator of the Global Shapers Community, an
initiative of World Economic Forum.